Hello. My name is John (the 'j' in my username) and I appreciate being brought on board. I'm 57 and a retired military guardsman (of the green variety) after 23 years in uniform. In my civilian life I was an aerospace engineer, also retired.
I started modeling as a young kid and among my first plastic kits was a Spad, slathered in glossy enamel with a paint brush. I continued building through high school concentrating mostly on WWII warbirds and a few artillery pieces. My final piece was a FW-190 which brought me first place (against little competition) in a ROTC model contest. My hobby lapsed for 40+ years as college, careers, and family took center stage. In retirement I decided to resurrect it, doing it the "right" way, and invested in the tools of the trade.
My first effort was an armor kit of the Pz IVH which served as a testbed for experimenting with weathering techniques. While it was way overdone it served its purpose and turned out reasonably well. I then switched back to warbirds using one of my all-time favorites as the subject, the Westland Lysander.
With the centennial, I've decided to return to my first love, WWI aircraft. Waiting on the shelf are two 1/48 Bristol F2b's (favorite aircraft of the period) for practice, a 1/48 Eduard Alb D.V, and the crown jewel, a Wingnut Wings Brisfit, all to be assembled in that order. I look forward to picking up tips and ideas here - with the occasional picking of brains, hopefully.
My other hobby is messing around with small scale detailed work on my CNC router. Yes, I am and always have been, a nerd.
